We Can Be Brave: How We Learn to Be Brave in Life’s Decisive Moments
Mariann Edgar Budde, adapted by Bryan Bliss
Dutton Books for Young Readers, 192 pages
Published October 21, 2025
Sermons from Episcopal bishops rarely go viral — Mariann Budde’s is an exception. In the worship service following the 2025 inauguration, she implored President Donald Trump “to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now.” Her courageous words are familiar to anyone who read her 2023 book, How We Learn to Be Brave.
Episcopal priest Bryan Bliss adapted this book for younger audiences. In We Can Be Brave, he draws on Budde’s sermon and writing, as well as the stories of historical and fictional figures (ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to Gandalf and Frodo), to demonstrate the importance of leading with courage in challenging times.
Bliss intersperses Budde’s teaching with stories of his own struggles to respond faithfully to God’s call. In one example, he left the familiarity of his Colorado friends, school and church, moving across the country to live with his mom. While discerning his next steps, he heard God speak directly to his heart, urging him to return to New Jersey, where he reconnected with the Episcopal church of his youth. “Without knowing it,” Bliss writes, “I left Colorado in search of a more expansive understanding of God.”
Budde and Bliss remind us that, in frightening times, people can learn to be brave.
While We Can Be Brave is intended for youth, many of the stories stand alone, and families and youth groups could easily draw on this book for teaching and discussion. It’s a scary time right now, particularly in Chicago, where I feel the drum of ICE helicopters overhead, and hear classmates describe the disappearance of a familiar street corner vendor. Budde and Bliss remind us that, in frightening times, people can learn to be brave.
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